Artificial Intelligence
by Hobbes22
Summary: It's hard to find your purpose when nobody trusts you. One-Shot I wrote a while back. Minor AU


**I wrote this in like middle school, lol. I think it's my first fic. Decided to upload it unchanged. I didn't know there was a fanfiction website in middle school, if I did, this would be straight on there.**

**This probably could be a really good fic, but I don't want to change it. I might rewrite it in the future.**

**Dedicated to 11 year old me.**

**Warning – Written by an 11 year old.**

* * *

Humans.

He was eternally grateful for the existence of humans.

Other Pokémon often talked about the existence of a god, Arceus. Arceus was their god because he was their creator.

Humans were his creator. Were those humans his god?

How could he say? The humans developed him. They wrote his code. They are the reason for his intelligence.

He cannot see them again. The laboratory that built him was shut down, and he knew it. They were forced to release him.

A Porygon-Z. What could a Porygon-Z do in the wild?

The humans nicknamed him Byte. He was named after one of the smallest units of computer storage.

Byte could not make friends. The local Pokémon hated humans. As a creation of the humans, Byte was an outcast.

Byte was intelligent. What does intelligence matter if there is nothing to use your intelligence for? If there is no application, does intelligence matter?

This is why Byte struggled to find his application. His purpose. His reason. The humans were supposed to find that for him, but when his lab was shut down, he was left on his own.

Now it was his own duty to find his purpose.

But that begged the question. If nobody believed that you were a good Pokémon, then how could you apply yourself?

Every Pokémon believed he was evil because he was created by the humans.

To good Pokémon come good things however. The first of his luck came when he met a Dragonite.

His story could have had a happy ending right now if this story was one of love, where nobody trusted the hero except for the princess, who happily married him.

Byte read many stories like this. He had those stories in his memory. The humans told him these stories to try and develop his Artificial Intelligence, as they called it.

This was not one of those stories.

Infatuation was not in his code. That did not matter, though. He had a crush. That was the word humans used, right? It was strange. The same word used for exerting too much force was used for romance. His Artificial Intelligence could not decipher that.

When he first met the Dragonite, he wanted to smile at her. The problem was that smiling was not in his code. He had never done it, and never knew how.

The Dragonite did not share his feelings towards her.

"Human created filth!" she had told him, when they first met.

This had only increased Byte's romantic feelings. Her choice of vocabulary was perfect!

Studying the Dragonite revealed that she enjoyed staying in one particular spot, a waterfall. She would often look at the waterfall and think about something.

As much as Byte loved her, he knew that she would never return the feelings. It was not going to happen. He was created by humans, and he could not change that.

Byte instead tried to focus on applying himself. Could he be an architect, designing beautiful buildings for Pokémon to love in?

Could he be a teacher, teaching young Pokémon about the miracles of science?

He finally settled on the career choice that he thought would have the biggest influence; Medicine.

A doctor, to be specific.

The medical field was dominated by Blissey. That did not matter. Byte was intelligent. His Diagnosis skill would be unmatched.

So? That's what Byte did. He became a doctor.

It was hard to get clients as a doctor when nobody trusted you. Who would want to be treated by human-created garbage?

The solution was simple. Location. It was something obvious to someone of Byte's intelligence.

He set up his office near a difficult dungeon. Rescue Team Pokémon would constantly fail their missions, and come out with slightly broken appendages. Perfect for Byte to diagnose and heal. He had the ability; healing was in his code.

His clients did not want to trust him. He had to remind them that he was the only Pokémon in the area, which forced Pokémon to come to him. Their eyes showed they did not trust him, but their bodies had no choice. After Byte successfully healed most of the Pokémon that came to him, they slowly began to accept him.

"Just because you were created by humans doesn't mean you're so bad after all!" his clients would say.

He wanted to smile after hearing this, but smiling was not in his code. He could not do it. He did not know how.

He simply nodded at his clients.

Time went on. Byte made money being a successful doctor, eventually becoming famous for being a successful doctor that wasn't a Blissey, Chansey, or Audino.

He found his purpose. He helped Pokémon in need. His intelligence was going somewhere. He was happy.

But he did not smile. It was not in his code. He did not know how.

His life was not fulfilled yet. There was no one to share his life with. Just because Pokémon trusted him did not mean that he specifically had people to be friends with. He was simply their doctor, not their friend.

Byte was a smart Pokémon; he knew how to solve this. He had never forgotten his passion, the Dragonite.

He went to the waterfall.

As he expected, the Dragonite was there. She was thinking about something.

Though he hadn't seen her in a while, he expected that she knew who he was.

"I know you're there," she said, surprising Byte. He was intelligent, but he did not expect that she knew he was watching her.

"Yes." he said simply.

"Do you want an apology for treating you bad when we met a long time ago?" she asked him.

Byte shook his duck-like head. "No."

"Then?"

Byte stopped. He wasn't sure, now that he thought about it. Did he really still love her?

"Well," the Dragonite said. "I'm going to apologize anyway. I know you watched me earlier. I know you know this is the place I go when I want to be alone."

For the second time in his life, with the first being a few seconds ago, Byte was surprised. This Dragonite knew that he was…stalking her all along.

"I…accept your apology. And I'm sorry that I followed you around."

"It's fine."

Was now the time?

"So. Would you like to check out the new coffee place in town?"

Dragonite's eyes opened up wide. "Are you asking me on a date?"

Yep. He loved her still.

"Perhaps," he responded.

"I guess there's no reason to say no. For a virtual duck, you are somewhat attractive."

Smiling was not in his code, but that did not matter.

He smiled.


End file.
